


I'm Proud of You

by hopedespite



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Endgame Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Endgame Lukanette, F/M, Identity Reveal, LBSC Sprint Fic Challenge, Lukanette, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:02:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28440609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopedespite/pseuds/hopedespite
Summary: For months now Marinette and Luka have danced around each other, their feelings only growing stronger and more apparent. So when Ladybug calls upon Viperion to return to the field against an unusually powerful akuma, how will Luka react when a battle gone awry exposes Ladybug’s identity and threatens her life?
Relationships: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 11
Kudos: 57
Collections: LBSCSprintFicChallenge





	I'm Proud of You

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the LBSC Sprint Fic Challenge  
> Wildcard Prompt: “You see, this is the part where you tell me you’re proud of me.”  
> Thank you so much @NerdyPanda3126 and @Quickspinner for being wonderful betas!

“I’m so proud of you, Marinette!” Luka turned to beam at the girl who stood over his desk. Keeping his eyes on her, he began to gently fold the newest Kitty Section jackets she had come over to present him with. “You’ve done such a wonderful job on the whole band’s new costumes. I know they’re going to love your designs.”

Marinette continued to smile fervently in spite of her blush — another small detail Luka was learning to cherish during his fleeting but meaningful afternoons with her.

“You’re always telling me you’re proud of me,” she chuckled. “At this point, I could bake you the world’s worst batch of macarons and you’d still find  _ something _ to be proud of.”

“Well that’s because you’re deserving of every bit of praise,” he countered, enjoying the way her blush deepened as he edged closer. “You’re a wonderful girl, Marinette. The kind whose heartsong always closes on the most hopeful of cadences.”

Marinette giggled, running her hand distractedly over the strings of his nearby guitar. She often did that when she was nervous, and Luka was learning to love the vibration of open chords a little more with each shy stroke of her fingers.

“Do you really think that, Luka?”

“Of course. You know I do.”

For months now they had danced around each other — Marinette finding exceedingly obscure design flaws and edits to merit her next visitation, and Luka taking every possible opportunity to remind her that he was proud of all she had to offer.

That he was proud of  _ all _ of her.

Now, his fingers itched to brush her bangs away so he had an excuse to feel the warmth of her skin. Her eyes were bashfully turned down toward the planks of his room on the Liberty, leaving her hair to hang in front of her brow in just the perfect angle for the occasion.

But before Luka could move, Marinette’s hand came up to pick at the hem of her blouse, her teeth momentarily pressing into her lower lip as her eyes flicked up. She turned to face him fully, setting her shoulders back and tipping her face up to meet his gaze head-on.

She was close — closer than he had initially realized. But when Marinette looked up, she didn’t look bothered or uncomfortable by their proximity. She only held her breath, leaning into the small space compressed between their two bodies.

It felt like an invitation of sorts, if not a challenge.

Luka bent his head down as Marinette’s lips parted in anticipation, the moment as fragile as glass. 

Perhaps she was waiting only for—

The dissident ringing of Marinette’s phone broke the moment, causing her to pull back suddenly. A startled silence rested between the two of them, their gazes still wide and locked until Marinette looked back down.

“I should… probably get that,” she mumbled self-consciously before crossing over to where her purse sat.

“Right.” Luka was disappointed but knew it was best not to show as much. After all, he wanted to move at  _ Marinette’s _ pace; to keep her comfortable and with the opportunity to say “no” if she so chose.

And so, without knowing where, exactly, her boundaries were right now, he decided it would be more respectful to distract his hands with the strings of his guitar.

Meanwhile, the phone notification appeared to have elicited an immediate frown from Marinette. Luka didn’t miss the way her brows furrowed in familiar concern and hesitation.

“Anyway, didn’t you tell me you had a new client to meet this evening about a commission?” Luka leaned back against the wall in an effort to belie his nervousness. His hands flew deftly over strings and frets as he fought the urge to ask her to stay, knowing she was likely about to offer some manner of strange excuse for her departure. “I wouldn’t want to make you late for your meeting.”

“Oh, r-right!” Marinette turned back stiffly with a forced smile. “My, uh, meeting! Of course. I better get going. Thank you so much for keeping an eye on the clock!”

She began to hastily assemble the rest of the Kitty Section garments into their respective travel bags, her eyes straying back to the screen of her phone before resting on Luka in silent apology.

He merely pressed his lips into a subtle smile, inclining his head forward to let his hair fall into his face.

“I’m always happy to help in any way I can, Marinette. You know how proud of you I am.”

________

Following Marinette’s hasty exit, Luka stretched himself out across the foot of his bed, leaning against the wall with one knee bent for support. Guitar still in hand, he began to distractedly pick out the melody of the heartsong he had begun writing for her nearly a year ago.

_ Meno mosso _ , he thought.  _ She moves at her own tempo. And I’d be happy to match her rhythm. _

In a conscious effort to slow his own heart rate following their final exchange, Luka’s fingers began to pick slower, the pace of the notes gradually loosening and broadening with his breath.

_ We have all the time we need. _

________

“There’s no time,” Ladybug huffed as she swung through the porthole and into Luka’s room not twenty minutes later. “I can’t reach Chat Noir, and I can’t stop this akuma alone. I need help.”

She recalled her yo-yo, stepping into the center of the room with an urgency that jolted Luka from his reverie, causing him to jerk his head back up hard enough that it hit the wall with a heavy  _ thump _ .

“Wait, what’s going on?” Luka scrambled up from his current seated position on his bed, attempting to rest his instrument as gingerly as possible on its nearby stand. One hand was still rubbing at the back of his head. “What are we up against?”

Ladybug was breathing hard — whatever happened must be especially terrible for her to not only seek out a partner that wasn’t Chat, but to rush all the way to the Liberty for help in lieu of saving the citizens that were in the most direct line of fire.

She had fabric wrapped around her shoulder in an effort to staunch the bleeding of what appeared to be a deep slice.

_ Since when did either Ladybug or Chat Noir actually bleed through their suits? _

“Like I said, there’s no time to explain.” She grabbed Luka’s hand, turning it over and pressing a box firmly into his palm. “Luka Couffaine, as you know, this is the Miraculous of the Snake. Can I trust you to once again wield Sass and the power of time for the greater good?”

________

Viperion staggered onto the next rooftop, narrowly missing the shards of glass being shot rapid-fire by Hawkmoth’s latest akuma victim. Not only had this one managed to keep him in on the defensive for the last fifteen minutes’ worth of battle (which was exhausting in and of itself), but the worst part was that this one was designed to penetrate the otherwise indestructible suits donned by miraculous wielders.

“Viperion, to your left!”

He flinched out of the way more than he dodged, but at least he managed to avoid taking any shards straight to the face. Ladybug, meanwhile, was bobbing and weaving, attempting to simultaneously evade the barrage while pushing close enough to get into more of an offensive position against their latest adversary.

And as far as Viperion could tell, it wasn’t working. They needed a new plan.

He hastily ducked behind the chimney of the rooftop he had landed on, fingers brushing over the strings of his lyre in thought. Once again, the familiar vibrations of an instrument helped to cool his nerves, serving as the bridge point between his thoughts and emotions in the midst of high tension.

He distractedly fingered a few more notes in quick chromatic succession, the music serving to somewhat dampen the audible sounds of Ladybug struggling several feet beyond. If only these vibrations could…

_ Wait, vibrations. _

“That’s it!” Viperion swung back around to expose himself. “Ladybug! We need stronger vibrations!”

Ladybug dodged the next onset of glass, using her yo-yo as a shield before swinging herself haphazardly back in his direction. As she flew by, she wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling them both out of the fray and into an alley for a moment of respite.

“You have a plan?” she demanded through uneven breaths. Small nicks and cuts littered one cheek, and a line of jagged fabric was torn all the way up the opposite arm.

“I do,” Viperion confirmed. “If we can find the frequency at which the akuma’s glass vibrates, we can shatter his attacks before they reach us.”

Ladybug’s eyes lit up. “Like singing at the right pitch to shatter a wine glass.”

“Exactly.”

“We may even be able to use that frequency to destroy whatever item is hiding the akuma,” she thought aloud. “The only questions, then, are how we make the vibrations and how we find out where the akuma is hiding.”

Viperion began to thumb his lyre in contemplation again, momentarily closing his eyes before offering whatever brief answers he could in their limited time.

“Well, if we manage to find the frequency, the akuma would likely be in whatever item he tries to protect from us. He’ll become vulnerable, so he might give himself away if we look closely enough,” he explained. “As for  _ creating _ the vibration… if we stretched your yo-yo out long enough, we could probably tune it like a single string. We would just need to amplify it."

Ladybug beamed, a modicum of hope restored to her facial expression. 

“Luka, you’re—I mean,  _ Viperion _ , you’re a genius!” she exclaimed. “And luckily, it just got dark for the evening. If we play this right, the akuma may not even see where I lay out the yo-yo string. I just need you to distract him long enough for me to tune it, and we can take it from there.”

Viperion placed a hand on her uninjured shoulder. “I’m always happy to help in any way I can.”

She nodded back with a determined smile before raising her eyes to scan the sliver of sky above the alley.

“You go out first and try to get his attention, then I’ll head out in the opposite direction toward the Eiffel Tower. There’s supposed to be a big concert there tomorrow and they’ve already begun to lay out equipment — I’ll bet I can find something to use as an amplifier.”

Viperion nodded, raising his left wrist to ready his power.

“Seems like the perfect time to prepare my Second Chance.”

They nodded in silent agreement, both bracing themselves for the next onslaught as Viperion launched back out onto the rooftops.

“Second Chance!” He flicked the Miraculous resting upon his wrist before turning back toward the frenzied akuma, making an attempt to vie for his attention.

“Hey! Over here!” Viperion waved his arms in frantic motions before strumming his lyre as loudly as possible. It didn’t take long for the akuma’s eyes to zero in on his form. “Come over here and face me!”

With a snarl, the villain lurched forward to pursue his would-be prey — but not before a flash of red and black unwittingly detracted from Viperion’s efforts.

_ No, no, it’s too soon. I need to keep his attention for this to work. _

Much to his horror, the akuma had already whipped back around, readying its next attack.

“Ladybug, watch out!”

_ Too late. _

Her back was turned, her yo-yo already wrapped around a nearby streetlamp so as to support her weight as she swung away. And as she was startled into turning back around midair, the glass shards found their target, burying themselves deep throughout her torso.

She lost hold, falling inelegantly. Her hand was still outstretched, reaching toward the yo-yo that now hung limply from the streetlamp as her mouth opened in a gasp of pain.

“No!” Viperion dropped his lyre and shot forward.

Tucking and rolling onto the pavement, he caught her mere seconds before she hit the unforgiving pavement. He hoisted her more securely into his arms ducked into another alleyway, kneeling to shield her body with his own.

_ Use your second chance, _ he thought haplessly.  _ You still have two minutes left. You can still fix this. _

But as much as logic beseeched him to reset this moment, to return to a mere few moments prior, his horror kept him rooted in the here and now; in the impossible future wherein he, Luka Couffaine, had failed Ladybug.

_ Chat Noir should have been here, not me. Chat Noir wouldn’t have failed. _

“Ladybug?” He gently propped her head up with one hand. “Ladybug, please. Please, can you hear me?”

As she turned and looked up at him in the dim light, the splotches of blood appeared dark enough that they could have blended into her costume, dotting her chest and abdomen in all the wrong places. The new spots were too uneven, growing too fast.

But that was nothing compared to the bloodied and broken tragedy that awaited him when she dropped her transformation.

“Marinette?” Luka’s words were cut off by a choke. His chest heaved, his panic overtaking him as he cradled the heroine — as he cradled  _ Marinette _ — in his arms. Her placid gaze, deathly calm, stood in stark contrast to that of Luka’s. “I thought you might be… but, but I—”

_ One minute, three seconds left. _

She reached a shaky hand up to his cheek. It was still warm despite the wintry air that pressed in and continued leeching the heat from her weakened body.

All Luka could do was bite back the sobs that threatened to wrack his ribs, deciding instead to place his free hand on top of hers. He turned his head to plant a gentle kiss on her palm.

“You see, this is the part where you tell me you’re proud of me,” Marinette whispered. “Just like you always do.”

_ Forty-six seconds left. _

“I love you, Luka.”

_ I can’t let it end like this. _

“I-I love you too, Marinette.” Luka’s voice broke. “And I’m proud of you. So completely and utterly proud of the melody you’ve brought to Paris — to  _ this world _ .”

Words, words, why did his words always seem to fail him?

_ Thirty-one seconds left. _

“Truly, Marinette, your heartsong—”

_ Please, I need more time. More time. _

“—How did I not realize sooner?” he lamented. “Your heartsong isn’t just your shared kindness, or your sweet sincerity. But it’s your drive for justice. Your passion for others.”

Marinette smiled softly, her eyes beginning to flutter shut.

“No, no,  _ listen  _ to me, Marinette. Please. You’re the kind whose heartsong always closes on the most hopeful of cadences _. _ And  _ I am so proud of you _ .”

_ Eighteen seconds left. _

Slowly, as though brushing her fingers lazily over Luka’s guitar one last time, Marinette’s hand fell from his cheek. Her fingertips were icy.

Luka wrapped his arms tighter in as much an effort to hold her closer as it was to keep himself from crying out in distress. The akuma was still nearby.

_ Ten seconds left. _

He couldn’t break.

Not here. Not like this.

_ Not yet. _

Luka bent forward, keeping his right hand propped beneath her head as his left fingers brushed the bangs from her cool and bloodied face. Tenderly, he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“I couldn’t be more proud of you if I tried,” he whispered. “Which is why I refuse to let you die without a second chance.”

He set her down as gently as possible and slid his right thumb over the bracelet of his left wrist.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading! You can also find me on [Tumblr](https://writtenbyrain.tumblr.com/).


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